WIGAN COUNCIL USES NUTRITIONAL ANALYSIS

TECHNOLOGY FOR RESTAURANT AWARD

Wigan Council has adopted the latest technology to check the nutritional content of food being served at eateries throughout the borough as part of an initiative to encourage healthier eating.

 

The Council is working in partnership with NHS Ashton, Leigh and Wigan to launch a voluntary scheme this April aimed at the food outlets across the Borough. The Healthy Business Award aims to recognise those restaurants, takeaways and related food businesses that are meeting not only food hygiene and trading standards but also offering healthier choices on the menus.

 

To help facilitate the award, the Council’s team will be using Saffron Nutrition nutritional analysis software provided by catering IT specialist Fretwell-Downing Hospitality, to check the nutritional content, in particular the calorie, sugar, salt, fat and saturated fat levels, of dishes being served to the public.

 

Wigan Council’s Julie Searing explains: “One in five people in Wigan borough are sufficiently overweight as to be putting their health at risk.  Our main aim is to help people to take the healthy option – if they want to. To do that, we’ll be working with local restaurateurs and caterers to help them develop healthier menus, particularly those with less fat, salt and sugar.

 

“The nutritional analysis technology will be a valuable support tool for our team, not only in checking the nutrient content of the meals being served, but also by working with caterers to show them how even small changes to recipes can make a difference.”

 

Saffron Nutrition analyses recipes using both the food industry’s bible, the McCance and Widdowson database of nutrient values, and the information provided by the major foodservice suppliers. The analysis is then depicted as graphs or traffic lights showing red, amber or green depending on the levels of specific nutrients.  The software is also capable of costing out menu plans and flagging up potential allergy-inducing ingredients.

 

The adoption of the technology by Wigan Council comes hot on the heels of the Food Standards Agency’s scheme to encourage restaurants to display nutritional information such as calorie levels on menus. Once the Healthy Business Award has been established, Wigan is considering a similar development by providing the catering establishments to have the option of displaying a consumer-friendly version of the Saffron Nutrition analysis for their customers.

 

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Let's make a meal of our weak pound

 

Published Date: 07 April 2009

By Bob Rae of www.sheffieldstar.co.uk

 

 

Catering industry software developer Fretwell-Downing Hospitality is targeting Europe for growth on the back of major expansion in the UK and the weakness of the pound.

 

The quick-footed Sheffield firm has become a market leader in the local authority and educational catering sector, thanks to its development of software to calculate the nutritional content of meals, ahead of the Government's introduction of nutritional standards for school meals.

 

New markets are now opening up within the restaurant trade for its Saffron Nutrition software, after the Food Standards Agency's decision to encourage high street restaurants to display nutritional information for diners.

A the same time, sales of the Ecclesall Road company's management information systems are also buoyant as the catering sector looks for ways of combating the recession by improving cost efficiency and business forecasting.

But the company is determined not to miss out on opportunities abroad. It has asked specialist technology consultancy CRt to help it build up its business in Europe.

Fretwell-Downing Hospitality's sales director, Andrew Markwell, says: "Overseas expansion is the right move as we know similar catering challenges are being faced over there as there have been in the UK.

"For instance, the UK has been ahead of the rest in setting nutritional targets for school meals and now other countries are beginning to follow suit."

The company initially wants to target Spain, and Scandinavia, to capitalize on the growing awareness within public sector catering departments in those countries of the need for cost-efficiency and good nutrition.

CRt's commercial director, Richard Bloss, says: "This is one of the best ever opportunities we have seen for UK technology companies to move into Europe, not least because of the parity between the euro and sterling.

"FDH's software serves a niche market, and the technology is ahead of the rest in the hospitality industry."

Mr Bloss adds that the Sheffield firm has numerous export opportunities as its systems are flexible enough to be integrated with other IT technology and relatively easy to translate into different languages